Microsoft wrests Gears of War from Epic Games

Delta Squad is now taking orders from a new commander: Microsoft.

 

The tech giant has officially bought the rights to the Gears of War franchise, including its future installments and merchandising tie-ins. After purchasing the rights from its former developer, Epic Games, Microsoft has confirmed that its Vancouver-based game development arm, Black Tusk Studios, is commencing work on the next game in the popular third-person shooter series.

 

 

Lock and load

 

Gears of War takes place on the war-torn world of Sera, and focuses on the ongoing battle between humanity and the alien races that seek to eradicate it. The first game in the series, which was initially developed for the Xbox 360, received high ratings on gaming sites such as IGN, GameRankings, and Eurogamer. Three sequels soon followed, and a PC port of the first game was released nearly a year after the Xbox 360 version hit shelves.

 

While the series is now under new management, an ‘old friend’ of Delta Squad will join Microsoft’s Gears of War development team: Rod Fergusson, the franchise's former director of production at Epic Games. According to Microsoft, Fergusson will “play a key studio leadership role at Black Tusk.”

 

"Black Tusk has assembled a world-class team with deep experience and passion for the shooter space, and specifically the Gears of War franchise," proclaimed Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of game studios.

 

"I am extremely confident that under the leadership of Hanno Lemke (of Black Tusk), Rod Fergusson and our other leaders in the studio, Black Tusk is well equipped to take on the future development of the Gears of War franchise.”

 

Epic Games: Not calling it quits yet

 

“Epic Games has reached an agreement to sell the Gears of War intellectual property rights to Microsoft,” announced Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games.

 

“We’re very proud of the franchise we built in close partnership with Microsoft over the past decade and are happy that this agreement enables Microsoft to forge ahead with the Gears universe on their industry-leading platforms as Epic concentrates its efforts on new projects.”

 

"We're still making games, don't worry," assured Epic PR Manager Dana Cowley via Twitter.

 

One of the studio’s current projects is Fortnite, a PC-exclusive sandbox survival game marketed as “Minecraft meets Left 4 Dead.” The gaming studio is currently mum about its other upcoming projects.

 

Meanwhile, Microsoft is promising gamers more pulse-pounding battles against the Locust hordes.

 

"This franchise, and these fans, are part of the soul of Xbox,” said Spencer. “By acquiring this franchise, Microsoft Studios will continue to offer them more of their favorite games and entertainment experiences from the Gears of War universe."

 

A concrete timeline for further entries in the franchise has yet to be announced. —TJD, GMA News